Open Turns: From Dutch Girl to New Australian-A Memoir

by Hendrika de Vries

Overview

If you believe in the power of dreams and intentions, this inspirational coming-of-age memoir set in 1950s Australia where an immigrant girl swimmer turns challenges and disappointments into opportunities for success is for you.

Henny was just a little girl when she experienced brutal violence and hunger in WWII Amsterdam, but she is now a teenage immigrant swimmer in 1950s Australia where she must learn to turn challenges into success. She is smart, she swims fast, and she has definite opinions about the kind of woman she intends to be.

She hears the timeless Land speak and sees the Southern Cross as a beacon when she walks in the bush with her father. She enjoys swimming star fame and championship victories and turns to the pool in her search to belong, to face fears and dashed hopes, until at every turn she sees more clearly her unique path ahead.

“Intentions are like prayers, if you pay attention they come back as destiny,” her mother has taught her. Is it intention or destiny that propels this young New Australian into her future long life?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647429515
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	09/02/2025
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Hendrika de Vries is a retired family therapist, a teacher, and a writer. Her life experiences with oppression and resistance in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, migration, competitive swimming, misogyny in 1950s Australia, and feminism in the US, infuse her writing with historical depth and personal perspective on challenges facing women and anyone deemed other. She is the author of When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew, award-winning memoir of her WWII childhood. She lives in Santa Barbara, CA

Editorial Reviews

A deeply felt memoir by a talented writer.”—Kirkus Reviews

“. . . this is an inspiring memoir whose prose is marked by wit, charm, and humor.”—Foreword Reviews

“Open Turns is a beautifully told coming-of-age story that captures the dislocation of immigration, the resilience it demands, the joys and pressures of elite swimming, and a young woman’s evolving understanding of what strength means in a world shaped by war and particular expectations of womanhood. De Vries’s memoir offers an insightful portrait of a young woman finding her way in a new country, in her sport, and in herself.”—Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water

“Open Turns is a fascinating coming-of-age story of a young girl Dutch girl who embarks on a journey into the unknown when she immigrates to Australia with her family. With strength and chutzpah, she finds her place in the new country, becomes a successful swimmer and grows by fighting her own demons that demand her to be flexible when success does not come as expected. I loved this book and want to hear the sequel!”—Radhule Weininger, PhD, MD, clinical psychologist, teacher of mindfulness practices, and author of Heart Medicine

“Hendrika de Vries continues recounting her life story, moving from post-war Holland to her new life in Australia. This beautifully written memoir gives voice to women’s struggle to find an identity where their place is dictated by men. What makes deVries’s memoir so unique is how she vividly shows us the life of a talented athlete fighting for identity and belonging as an immigrant.”—Elayne Klasson, author of Love is a Rebellious Bird

“This beautiful book speaks for all traumatized and displaced children. An inspiring tale of a young girl’s intentions, guided by parental wisdom and love, to find her inner champion in a land where she struggled to belong. A powerful reminder that we can all dream and manifest a brighter future.”—Maryanne Mooney, author of The Worthy Leader: from Potential to Mastery

“This coming-of-age story reveals the working of destiny. It will inspire the migrant within each of us seeking home. You won’t be able to put this book down!”—Maureen Murdock, author of The Heroine’s Journey

“What a powerful continuation of Hendrika de Vries’ story! It begins in 1950 when 13-year-old “Henny” and her family emigrate to Australia, a completely new and different world with no understanding of the war trauma she has just survived. I loved the way this honest, sometimes sad, but ultimately hopeful book evoked memories of my own experience as an immigrant and as an adolescent.”––Christine Downing, Ph.D, scholar and author of The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine

“Open Turns asks three essential questions: Who am I apart from my talents and dreams? What destiny is calling me to become who I authentically am? What does remembering my past add to the texture of who I have become? Moving between becoming and being, Hendrika’s coming-of-age adventure into herself and out to the world resonates with all of us who have wondered about our identity, our destiny, and our purpose in life.”—Dennis Patrick Slattery, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, author, most recently, of The Fictions in Our Convictions: Essays on Cultural Mythology

From the Publisher

2025-07-08
De Vries’ memoir recounts her childhood in World War II–era occupied Holland and her teen years in Australia.

The de Vries acquitted themselves heroically in occupied Holland: Henrika’s (“Henny”) mother was part of the Resistance, and her father spent time in a German POW camp. When the war was over, the family accepted an offer to emigrate to Australia. Henny was not happy to leave Amsterdam, her friends, or her life as a very promising young swimmer. The family first fetched up in the Outback in a hovel, leading an existence that was just a cut above camping. But a couple of years on, they got to move to Adelaide, a city crazy about swimming; Henny began to fit in, make friends, and establish a name for herself as a formidable competitive swimmer—possibly Olympic material—until what was likely an undiagnosed iron deficiency blunted her winning edge. This was a crushing disappointment, but she was becoming more and more an Australian girl, a true “Sheila.” (“I belonged here in these waters Down Under, exactly at this time of my life.”) Henny later met and married a good man, and they (and their kids) moved to the USA. That marriage ended, but today she is a happily remarried Californian; it’s a wonderful arc of a life. This is a good book in so many ways: It is well written and tightly focused. Readers learn many details about life Down Under—Henny has an almost mystical moonlight encounter with a kangaroo. Other, less benign elements include endemic male chauvinism and casual xenophobia. In the author’s memories of Australia, women were meant for marriage and motherhood and were cloyingly patronized. And the de Vrieses would always be “New Australians”; decent people, perhaps, but not children of the heroic Australian past. But this little family survived the horrors of the Third Reich and a year of near starvation—they were made of sterner stuff.

A deeply felt memoir by a talented writer.

Kirkus Reviews